What’s Current: Canada Winter Games new policy allows athletes to compete as sex they ‘identify with’

Athletes at the 2019 Canada Winter Games will be allowed to compete as the sex they “identify with.” The new policy adopted by the Canada Games Council states:

“The CGC recognizes that sex and gender are not the same thing, and that individuals are born with different combinations of sex and gender as part of their identity,” the policy states. “This policy aims to set the conditions by which the CGC and its Host Societies will create a safe and welcoming environment for transgender or intersex participants at the Canada Games.”

The Tasmanian Labour Party is standing by plans to make the inclusion of sex on birth certificates optional, despite polling suggesting overwhelming public opposition. Polling done for the Liberal Party showed strong majority opposition to the birth certificate move in every voter group except for Greens voters.

LGBT sporting group Athlete Ally cuts ties with Martina Navratilova, accusing her of “transphobia,” after the tennis legend said allowing trans-identified males to compete against women was unfair.

Nicola Williams of Fair Play For Women was uninvited from Stephen Nolan’s show on BBC Radio 5 Live after trans activist Rachel McKinnon complained. Williams was scheduled to discuss comments by Martina Navratilova about trans-identified males competing against women in sport.

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Meghan Murphy is a freelance writer and journalist. She has been podcasting and writing about feminism since 2010 and has published work in numerous national and international publications, including New Statesman, Vice, Al Jazeera, The Globe and Mail, I-D, Truthdig, and more. Meghan completed a Masters degree in the department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University in 2012 and lives in Vancouver, B.C. with her dog.